Poster: Timestamp Verifiability in Proof-of-Work

Various blockchain systems have been designed for dynamic networked systems. Due to the nature of the systems, the notion of "time" in such systems is somewhat subjective; hence, it is important to understand how the notion of time may impact these systems. This work focuses on an adversary who attacks a Proof-of-Work (POW) blockchain by selfishly constructing an alternative longest chain. We characterize optimal strategies employed by the adversary when a difficulty adjustment rule alà Bitcoin applies.